Varying Strengths
by Once Was AHR
Summary: Kandoru Inuzuka is finally a genin, but what happens when his new sensei is not what he expects at all? NextGen Fic. R&R please


**Ok, this is an idea I just had, and I decided to write it down. For now, this is just a two shot, but I might expand it if I get the inspiration. Now, if you like the story and think I should expand, write a review. If you think it was horrible, and it should be flamed mercilessly…still write me a review! I would also like warn for some possible Mary-Sueness. It wouldn't have worked if a specific character wasn't that way.**

It was a bright and cheerful day in Konohagakure. War had not breached the ironclad alliance of Sunagakure and Konohagakure for almost eight years. With the leadership of the Sixth Hokage, many considered this to be the 'Golden Age of Konoha'.

Of course, it was not like that everywhere. Outside of the lands of Suna and Konoha war was a common and devastating thing. With various rogue ninja killing each other, under the orders of whoever happened to have enough money at the time.

At this moment, Toyoka Ikati inspected herself anxiously in the mirror. She had a battered headband tied bandana style (AN: Think Hayate) on a head of dark blue hair. Her eyes were a cold grey, and she was unevenly tanned on her body. Her outfit, which consisted of netting and mud colored clothing, gave her the look of a rag doll. She had standard issue black ninja sandals and black fingerless gloves as well. Not Anbu gloves, but still, gloves all the same.

Toyoka gazed at her bed, which had a chuunin jacket with a hanger lying on it. After staring at it for several moments she picked it up, and put it back in her closet. A gut feeling told her that today was not the day to show off. Not that a chuunin jacket would say much.

Toyoka was a Jounin. An eleven year old Jounin. Scratch that, a twelve year old Jounin. Her birthday had been a week ago. She had graduated the ninja academy at age six, and became a chuunin by age eight. She was a Jounin at age ten. She knew that her results had been a special case, and she always made sure to never forget that, even when shinobi and civilians alike did. The shinobi expected her to be an adult, but most people thought she should be acting like a child while she could.

Today was a special day for Toyoka. After much arguing with Hokage-sama, her parents and most chuunin, she had finally been allowed to take her own team of genin. She didn't know why she had wanted a genin team so badly, but until now, it had seemed like a great idea. Now it just seemed like suicide. Her team was probably older then her too!

Toyoka stole one last glance at the chuunin flak jacket. It wouldn't do much, but she kept having a sneaking suspicion no one would believe her if she told them she was a Jounin unless she had proof.

"Toyoka! Breakfast!"

That was her mother. Another twinge of self pity. What kind of Jounin had a mom who cooked breakfast for her? But, her mother had made it clear the minute Toyoka had became a Jounin, that even if she was stronger than most children her age, she was not to grow up to fast. A lot harder to do then say. Toyoka went downstairs,-flak jacket still on its hanger- and was welcomed by a smell of some very delectable food. Toyoka smiled and sat down to have some food.

Her dad was also eating at the table. He was a chuunin who taught at the ninja academy. He grinned from ear to ear when he saw her daughter. He had taught many of the students at one point or another at the academy. He wouldn't find out who his daughter got as a team until he punched in, but it didn't matter. All of the ninjas who had passed were twelve or older. But Toyoka did not need to know this.

"Now, when you get your team, I want you to invite them over for dinner so I can meet them."

Toyoka looked up at her mom hesitantly. "Mom." Toyoka said slowly. "I haven't even passed them yet."

Her mother just rolled her eyes. "Mark my words, you will pass them. You could get the worst ninja and you would somehow find some obscure thing about them that will make them pass."

The father gave a loud snort. He wasn't so sure about that. There were a lot of genin who were not cut out to being a ninja without some more training at the academy. Not that he would be the judge of that. However, it was going to be interesting to see his daughter train three new genin.

He only hoped, she wouldn't kill them in the process.

B R E A K

This was the day. Today. Finally. Kandoru fidgeted nervously in his seat. He was a ninja. He had the headband to prove it. He smiled at his dog, Tikataru. She was asleep on his desk. Kandoru Inuzuka and Tikataru were finally going to get out of the academy. At thirteen years old, Kandoru was quite muscular for his age. He had mussed up brown hair that reached his chin. He wore black pants with a grey jacket that his father had given him. It was slightly old and ratty, but He loved it all the same.

"Attention."

Kandoru looked up. It was Jirono-sensei with a list. He listened eagerly for whatever news they would be given.

"As of today you are no longer academy students, but fully fledged academy students. However, you are merely genin, the bottom of the ladder."

Kandoru shrugged. He already knew that.

"Now, you are to be put into a four man cell. Three genin and one Jounin sensei."

Kandoru was now listening intently. This was something he had not anticipated. Two other dudes teamed up with him? Kandoru craned his neck to look at the other students. He had a couple of acquaintances, but no really good friends. However, he really had no mortal enemies either.

Jirono-sensei then started to rattle on with teams and such. Kandoru listened for his name. He looked as one by one, potential team mates were canceled out.

"Now in Team Six."

Kandoru blinked, hoping ,as he did five times before, that his name would get called.

"Mitsu Gyaro"

Mitsu was the oldest kid in the entire class. At fifteen pushing sixteen, he was easily the tallest of anyone, even reaching the height of most sensei's. He belonged to a clan that specialized in herbs and plants and junk.

"Renika Nara"

An arrogant girl who knew more then what was good for her.

"And Kandoru Inuzuka, under the Jounin of Toyoka Ikati."

Kandoru wrinkled his nose. Mitsu wasn't too bad but Renika was an arrogant prick. She was smart, fast and carried a damn fan where ever she went.

They were let out for lunch. Later, they would meet their sensei, but now, they were supposed to officially 'meet' they're new team.

Kandoru stared at Mitsu, Mitsu stared at Renika, and Renika somehow managed to stare at both of them simultaneously. Tikataru climbed to her rightful spot, on Kandorus head and barked eagerly.

Mitsu had shocking red hair with lime green eyes. His right arm had a swirly dark green tattoo and he wore some odd looking vest. He frowned uncomfortably. This was his fourth time at the ninja academy. Most just quit or passed on their second try, but somehow, Mitsu had miraculously failed. No one ever told them what he failed at, exactly, but every year he would pass the ninja exam, and every year he would be back at the academy.

Renika had black hair which went down into two low pigtails that made her look like she had pineapples growing out of her head. She wore some sort of a light purple poncho with a dark shirt underneath it. She had a purple skort of the same light material. She had two fans strapped to her side, and her blue eyes had a mocking tone that made Kandoru want to punch her.

"So…"

Mitsu began uncomfortably. He knew what was coming up, and didn't want to become too attached if they didn't pass.

"I call leader!" Kandoru shouted out suddenly. Since he was a leader and not a follower, he thought it was best if he got that out of the way first.

"You can't be the leader you troublesome idiot. Toyoka-sensei will be the leader." Renika muttered, loud enough for the two of them to hear her.

Kandoru refrained from using a rude hand gesture and just shrugged. "Yeah, WHATEVER!"

Mitsu chuckled to himself. He had seen Kandoru's type before, cocky and self sure. For some reason, they were the ones who ended up failing.

They said nothing else for the rest of the lunch break and just stared awkwardly at each other. They really had nothing in common. Renika played shougi and liked to draw squiggles in the sand, Mitsu gardened and liked to stare at plants and Kandoru played with dogs and liked to run.

B R E A K

A man with dark blonde hair and green eyes walked in.

"Team 4."

A woman with light grey hair and blue eyes walked in.

"Team 8."

One after another, until they're was only a few left. Toyoka was panicking; she had been one of the first people to get to the academy, but had stayed behind the door. She had performed countless dangerous missions with precise accuracy- why could she not handle a bunch of genin?

Breathe In.

Breathe Out.

She walked through the door.

There was still a bunch of kids left, pretty much worried out of they're minds. They took one glance at her, and went back to their conversations. She probably did not look like a sensei. She probably looked like some late genin or something. Still, she had to say something sooner or later.

"Team 6."

One by one, the faces turned towards her in disbelief. An extremely tall boy shrugged and got up. He walked over without much emotion. She had seen his file. This was his fourth time trying to pass, nothing could really surprise him by now.

Then a girl stood up and walked over. She stared at Toyoka for a good minute, and then stood next to Mitsu.

Two down. One to go.

Then finally, the last got up.

He had two upside-down triangle shaped tattoos on his face. Inuzuka.

His face was a mixture of hatred and confusion. He trembled slightly and got up and walked towards them, with his dog following behind him. He tried to hide a repulsed look as he stood next to the girl. Toyoka walked out of the academy the three genin following her.

She took them to a bridge and smiled at them. They looked completely and utterly confused. Even the tall one had some slight confusion in his features.

"My name is Toyoka Cataki. Your Jounin teacher."

What else could she really say?

…

…

"How about you three introduce yourselves, so that I get an idea of who you are."

And what they're names were. Toyoka was horrible with names. She looked at them. The girl just yawned and the Inuzuka growled.

The tall one began to speak.

"Ok…So my name is Mitsu Gyaro, my hobbies include gardening, and cooking, I hope to one day become a genin officially….and then I would like to become a medic-nin. I absolutely despise the bell test"

Mitsu said this in one breath without pausing to think. He had already given a speech like that three times before. There wasn't much thinking involved.

Toyoka smiled and Mitsu just shrugged.

More Silence.

"Sigh…My name is Renika Nara"

The girl was speaking.

"My hobbies include playing Shougi and drawing, my dream is to beat my dad in a game of shougi,"

At this point, the Inuzuka boy gave a loud snort. Renika ignored him and continued.

"And I hate it when people compare me to my parents."

She fell silent and stared at Inuzuka.

He said nothing.

Toyoka took a deep breath. The other two kids didn't seem to bad, she had really hoped her dream wouldn't be shattered.

Finally, the Inuzuka gave an ugly glare to Renika and took a deep breath.

"My name is Kandoru Inuzuka, and this is Tikataru. I like…dogs and running and smelling and…junk. I want to become an anbu, and I hate…"

His eyes narrowed and he stared directly at Toyoka.

"…I absolutely despise runts who are younger then me."

The words pierced like steel through Toyoka, but she didn't show it. She just smiled icily.

"My name Toyoka Ikati, I like Miso soup, I'm living my dream, and I hate cocky, self assured bastards."

Kandoru just gave her a more disgusted look. He muttered something under his breath that sounded like 'you little duck'.

Toyoka took one last look at them.

"Alright, Heres the deal, I want you all to meet me right here tomorrow at six am, for your first training session."

Mitsu blinked and looked up excitedly. "You mean we get to eat?!"

Toyoka chuckled. "Thanks for reminding me Mitsu, Don't eat breakfast, or you'll just throw up, and that's an order."

Mitsu looked thoroughly down cast and grumbled something, but he got up and walked home, preparing to eat as huge as a dinner as he could possible eat. Renika just scowled at him.

Toyoka said nothing against Mitsu leaving, he already knew the drill. But as Renika and Kandoru were about to follow his lead, she stopped them, and explained the reason why Mitsu failed, and what exactly was going to happen tomorrow. If they didn't pass, they would go straight back to the academy.

B R E A K

There were some things a person should know about Kandoru. He was like his father in some aspects, hotheaded, cocky, ball of unthinking energy. He also didn't like smart alecks, and little kids. Anyone who acted better than him that was younger than him or shorter than him, would drive a person like Kandoru crazy.

He also liked to defy people with more authority then him. Poor Toyoka fit in both of those catagories.

Kandoru at the moment, was not a happy genin. He at the moment, was at the dinner table, giving the evil eye to a poor piece of dead chicken. He looked up from his table.

His chuunin sister was at the moment on a mission and not present. His mother was not present either, since she was also on a mission. It was only him, his annoying eight year old brother and his dad. His headband was tied against his forehead, and so far, he had not bothered to take it off.

Kandorus' dad looked up and gave a toothy grin.

"Well, how was your first day as one of us Kando?"

At this point, Kandorus younger brother, Fuumaru, started asking if he had killed anyone yet.

Kandoru just shrugged a bit. "I didn't kill anyone yet, Baka, and my first day…was a damn joke."

His father looked confused for a moment, then crowed with laughter.

"This is about the whole 30 thing right?"

Kandoru nodded stiffly. He had always known that there was some sort of test the Senseis put them through, but he had always assumed it would be more like 80 would pass or something. Not just 30

"Don't worry Kando. I passed on my first try, and so will you. Just remember, that your teammates will be hanging out with you for a long time, so if you hate one of them then at least try and not show it, or they'll sic fleas after you."

Kandoru frowned. "…Fleas?"

His dad nodded vigorously and shuddered slightly at the memory.

After another awkward pause, his dad tried to get some more information out of his son.

"So, whose your sensei?"

"Is it Hokage-sama?"

That stupid comment came from Fuumaru. Tikataru sniffled slightly, and begged for some more food. Kanduro chucked him a piece of his chicken, and let out a long mournful sigh.

"I remember my sensei…she was pretty hot. Course she was about ten years older than me and had a boyfriend, but still…"

His dad cackled at himself. He had some really odd dreams at that age. He then stared awkwardly at his son. Kandoru seemed oddly quiet today.

Kandoru then proceed to viciously attack his food and chew menacingly.

"I have a sensei…" He said between bites.

"And she's freaking ten years old!"

At this point, his dad stopped in mid bite. Even Fuumaru gaped at him a bit. That is, until he opened his tiny little mouth and said:

"You're lying. A ten year old can't be a Jounin."

Kandoru snarled at him and whispered the world that sounded like duck.

His dad frowned. "It's rare, but I've heard of kid Jounin before. What's the girls name?"

Kandoru proceeded to stab his plate, since the chicken had been vaporized.

"Toyoka Itaki…"

For some reason unknown to many worlds, the father chose at that moment, to drink water. This was an unfortunate event, since he proceeded to spit it out in surprise.

"Toyoka…?"

Kandoru nodded. "Heard of her?"

His dad nodded.

" She's eleven years old, but she is a Jounin. Her sensei was trained under Hokage-sama himself. This means she was indirectly trained by one of the legendary Sannin. I've been on a couple missions with her; you would never know she hadn't even hit puberty yet, the way she fights. Damn….Toyoka… I totally forgot about her. I had heard she had been trying to get permission to train genin, but I didn't know they agreed…"

Kandoru just rolled his eyes. She was freaking eleven years old. Now way could she be strong enough to be a Jounin. Not a single chance. It had to be some sort of cruel, cruel joke.

Fuumaru had by now, lost interest and got up from the table to go off and play with their dogs.

Kandoru left as well. He, for a moment, had seen awe in his dads face when he mentioned Ikatis name. He felt sickened. He stomped up to his room, Tikataru at his heels, and did not come out until Five Forty Five in the morning.

B R E A K

Five fifty nine. Mitsu, Renika and Kandoru all stood on the bridge. Kandoru just smirked.

"Some Jounin, shes not even on time!"

"Still one minute left troublesome idiot" Said Renika with a tiny hint of scorn.

"How do you know?!"

"Because, unlike you, I actually use my mind."

Six O' clock. Toyoka appeared in front of them.

"Morning."

"Your late Toyoka!"

Sensei. Kandoru did not call her sensei. Did he forget? Or was he just an ass hole?

Renika gave a groan. "No she's not. She's exactly on time."

Kandoru, this time, did use the rude hand gesture, and said something that resembled 'duck you, witch'

Mitsu just groaned. Even if he did pass, he would be stuck with them. Which was the lesser of two evils?

Toyoka took a deep breath.

"Now, thanks to Mitsu's evident hatred in the bell test, we will be doing another test."

Mitsu looked like Christmas had come early.

Toyoka then did a nice bit of jutsu work, just to impress them.

"Instead-"

She appeared right behind Kandoru. Basically, Shadow clone.

"We will be playing a game of-"

Kandoru looked very freaked out. In an instant, she was gone.

"Rescue the Hostage."

In her arms, eight feet away from them, she held Tikataru, who looked like she was napping.

"GIVE ME BACK TIKATARU!!" Kandoru yelled and charged at her.

Toyoka sidestepped out of the way. Kanduro took another swipe at her, but that got sidestepped as well. Finally Mitsu came and grabbed Kanduro.

"You are not failing this test before we even take it!" He hissed at him.

Renika looked thoroughly bored.

Toyoka smiled at Kanduro, who looked like he was foaming at the mouth, and began to talk again.

"You have until lunch. I've got a timer and everything. I'll be…300 yards into the forest. If you can rescue Tikataru, or if you give an impressive effort you pass."

She and Tikataru both disappeared, leaving the three genin alone. They all stared at each other. Mitsu was about to open his mouth to speak, but Kanduro cut in.

"Just follow me and we'll find her easy."

Mitsu frowned. "The point is to not find her Kanduro-ch-"

"Don't talk Plant boy, you've failed three times already, so you've obviously been doin' something wrong. Just leave this to me!"

Mitsu was bit taken back. He was sorely tempted to tell him that no one ever listened to him those other three times either. But, fifth time was the charm he guessed, maybe he could even get his dad to teach him some jounin level jutsu.

Renika stared at Kanduro then Mitsu. She sighed.

"This is going to be such. A. Drag."

B R E A K

Toyoka had been in the forest for a little less than ten minutes when she finally heard the sound of her genin. It had taken them long enough. Did they need a map or something? A kunai whizzed towards her and hit her in the heart. She heard some sort of victory a cry and a muffled groan. It did not matter. It had not hit her. It had hit a log.

Kandoru cursed. "THAT'S CHEATING!!"

Toyoka appeared behind him.

"It's my rules."

Kandoru gave a small shout at the sound of her voice. He then gave her a rude hand gesture. For that, Toyoka, punched him, not too hard, but hard enough that he hit the tree twenty feet away.

Renika and Mitsu had been smart and fled the moment Kandoru had thrown a kunai.

Ten minutes past…thirty…Where the heck were they?

They were just outside the forest. Kandoru was tied to a tree, Renika was drawing squiggles in the ground and Mitsu was watching her.

Finally Kandoru couldn't take it anymore.

"LET ME GO ALREADY!!"

Mitsu looked up briefly and shook his head. When he had failed the second time, Mitsus dad had taught him the vine binding jutsu. It worked wonderfully, and Kandoru could not move an inch.

He stared intently at the squiggles, sometimes shaking his head or nodding. Kandoru muttered hundreds of insults, thinking of what to do once he got free. He would get back Tikataru and kill Mitsu. Plain and simple. Mitsu had never seemed so annoying in the academy, what changed him?

Mitsu stopped looking at the squiggles and walked up to Kandoru. He was about two inches away from his face.

"Now are you ready to be a good little boy and help us out?"

Kandoru spat in his face.

Renika sighed and got up.

"Listen troublesome idiot, if you want to pass, your going to listen to me. Got it? If you don't, I'll _make _you."

Kandoru snickered. "How?"

Renika sighed, and made a hand sign. She nodded to Mitsu, who reluctantly released the vines.

Kandoru was going to walk straight up to Renika and say something. But alas, he couldn't. He could not move at all. For Renika had her own jutsu. It was called Shadow Possession Jutsu. Sure enough, there was a long black shadow that stretched from Renika to Kandoru.

Renika flashed a rare smirk. "It seems like you're the only one without any useful jutsu."

Kandoru sighed. He knew when he was defeated. So when Renika let him go, he said nothing.

Renika looked from Mitsu, to Kandoru, and then back to her scribbles. On closer examination, Kandoru realized that the scribbles were not scribbles after all. They were, for lack of a better term, blueprints. The forest, Toyoka, The three genin, all placed accurately.

Renika sighed, whipped out a fan and pointed to a dot that symbolized Tikataru.

"Here's what we're gonna Do."

**Ok, That's it, I originally planned to have this all in a one shot, but I felt it was too long, so it became a two shot! (magic!) Reviews are warmly welcomed, because I am debating on whether or not to make this a series.**


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